24th Annual Conference of the Scottish Association for the Study of America

The Manhattan Project Turns 80: Reflections on the Nuclear Age March 12, 2022, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK 2022 sees the 80th anniversary of the official commencement of the Manhattan Project, the vast programme to build the atomic bomb. An undertaking of unparalleled scale and scope, the project’s ultimate success ushered in an era of atomic fear, fantastical atomic utopias, radioactive human and environmental carnage, and legacies up to the present day and into the distant future. The 2022 Historians of the Twentieth Century United States (HOTCUS) Winter Symposium takes the Manhattan Project as its starting point in the hope that this will provoke a wide-ranging discussion of the nuclear age and its histories. The symposium will feature an opening keynote by Dr Jonathan Hogg (University of Liverpool) and a closing keynote from Dr Linda Ross (University of Glasgow). There will also be a round table discussion reflecting on […]

WASN Panel: Call for Expressions of Interest The challenges of working in Higher Education have been particularly acute over the last two years. From the pandemic, to continuing industrial disputes over pensions, precarity and the race and gender pay gaps, as well as media exposure of some of the many instances of sexual harassment in Higher Education, gender continues to shape the practice of British American studies in profound ways. This WASN sponsored panel offers a space for dialogue about the challenges and opportunities faced by all who identify women and all those marginalized along the gender spectrum. We are looking for expressions of interest on a particular theme for up to 5 minutes from WAAS members. We are looking for speakers who represent different parts of the sector (including independent scholars) and career stages (from postgraduate researchers to Professors). Panellists can speak to any theme, but WASN especially welcomes […]

2022-01-03 Next issue: Sacred Spaces in the Americas—RIAS Vol. 17, Spring–Summer (1/2023) Edited by Lucie Kýrová and Nathaniel R. Racine “Human societies come and go on this earth and any prolonged occupation of a geographical region will produce shrines and sacred sites discerned by the occupying people, but there will always be a few sites at which the highest spirits dwell.” Vine Deloria, Jr., God Is Red: A Native View of Religion, 279. The connections between the spiritual and natural world and the temporality and permanence of sacred places, as articulated by Vine Deloria, Jr., have found constant expression throughout the colonial history of the Americas. As European settlement advanced, many sites sacred to the Indigenous peoples were abandoned, destroyed, forcibly transformed, or left in obscurity for their own protection, only to gain new meanings within the conquering or enslaved cultures taking root. Thus we see modern Mexico City built […]

In Spring 2022, the British Association of American Studies will be hosting a series of Work In Progress Sessions within which Early Career Academics (ECAs) share their work. This will take on the format of 5-5-5 WIP Sessions:   5 ECAs will be selected and invited into a workshop group. Each ECA will write 5,000 words and share it with the other ECAs. The other ECAs will provide 5 key pieces of feedback on this piece.   The exact format of these workshops will be decided with the selected ECAs, but are likely to take the form of a one hour discussion once a week for 5 weeks. These workshops are intended to be collaborative, rather than prescriptive.   Whilst there is no specific theme to these works beyond this organisation’s focus on American Studies, an effort will be made to group ECAs according to discipline. We recognise that a […]

Conference dates: 22-25 June, 2022* Location: University of Edinburgh Plenary Speaker: Professor Melani McAlister (George Washington University ) Historians of the Twentieth Century United States (HOTCUS) is delighted to invite paper and panel proposals for our 2022 annual conference. Following the success of our first online conference in 2021, we are developing a hybrid format for 2022, with a range of both in-person and online events. We hope that this will accommodate those who want to meet in person in the beautiful city of Edinburgh, while also ensuring accessible offerings for all who wish to join us digitally. We will, of course, be keeping a close eye on government advice, and can pivot to an online-only event if necessary. Please consider your availability and preferences if submitting a paper or panel (see below for more information on submissions and the format of the conference). Call for Papers We welcome panels […]